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The Stalker (The Tunnel)
The Stalker (referred to as "Stalker" in the credits) is the main antagonist of the 2011 Australian found footage horror film directed by Carlo Ledesma, The Tunnel. The creature gets its name from its preferred method of stalking its victims from the shadows, and because of this method, along with its displays of superhuman speeds, a clear visual of it and its anatomy is almost impossible. The several times it appears on camera, it appears to be a very tall, almost emaciated humanoid with elongated limbs, large black eyes and appears to be covered in tattered clothes. During the course of the film, it's shown to be cunning, dangerous, and temperamental. It also appears to have human-level intelligence, which is demonstrated multiple times throughout the course of the film. According to the film's director, Carlo Ledesma, The Stalker was inspired by the filmmaker's love of cryptozoology. It's portrayed in the film by Australian actor Goran D. Kluet, who later played Anubis from Gods of Egypt and one of the Neomorphs (A predecessor to the iconic Xenomorphs ) from Alien: Covenant. Background Nothing is known on the mysterious and deadly being known simply as The Stalker, who lurks in the dark maze of underground tunnels, and railways beneath the heart of Sydney, Australia. Within these dark, dank places near an underground lake, it dwelled, hunting and killing whatever entered its domain, its lust for blood never satisfied. Many of the city’s homeless who sometimes ventured into these tunnels were never heard from again, those who escaped were forever traumatized by the horrors they experienced. The mere mention of the tunnels sending one survivor into a panic attack. ''The Tunnel'' For years, The Stalker’s existence was thought to be an urban legend, with tales of people who ventured down into the tunnels never to be seen again. In 2007, in the midst of drought and water shortages, the New South Wales State government sanctioned a plan to utilize the accumulated water within the tunnels beneath Sydney, the same tunnels where The Stalker resided. However, the government inexplicably scrapped the project, possibly due to the discovery of The Stalker’s existence within these tunnels. Even though security guards were patrolled the entrance to the tunnels, people still managed to enter through means of a secondary entrance, those who did were never heard from again. In one such instance, a teenage couple ventured into the tunnels armed with a camera, all the while The Stalker watched them from the shadows. As the couple began spraying graffiti onto the walls, The Stalker began making noises in the darkness in an effort to separate the couple. The ploy worked, and the boyfriend followed the sounds into the darkness as his girlfriend stood alone recording the event. Once he had disappeared from the camera's line of sight, The Stalker ambushed and murdered the young man, with the attack taking place so quickly that not a sound was made. The woman would stand there alone under the tunnel's only light source, frantically crying for her boyfriend, not knowing that he was already dead. The Nightmare Begins In 2008, one year after the water project scandal, News Journalist Natasha Warner and her crew Peter Ferguson, Steve Miller, and Jim “Tangles” Williams enter the tunnels through the secondary entrance with the hopes of making a documentary on the controversy and scandal surrounding the government’s unexplained cancellation of its water irrigation project. As the group explored the long-abandoned underground tunnels, homeless squats, and air raid shelters The Stalker followed them in the darkness. When the group arrived at the massive underground lake, mysterious sounds could be heard in the distance as the group shot a scene for their documentary. However, only the crew’s sound expert Tangles could hear these sounds who brushed it off as a joke by the other crew members. As the group ventured deeper into the tunnels, they come across an old air raid bell left behind from WWII. After the initial ringing of the bell distorted the film’s audio, Tangles decided to record the audio in one of the adjoining rooms. Only when the bell was rung a second time did The Stalker launch its assault, attacking Tangles while he was separated from the group before dragging him away. Sounds of the horrific attack were all recorded in Tangles’ boom mike. After carrying its victim off, The Stalker then brutally murdered him, splattering his blood all over the walls. Taking advantage of the group’s distraction, The Stalker proceeded to remove all of the crew’s equipment from their storage site to an unknown location before continuing to hunt the crew. When the crew managed to find the room where Tangles was murdered, which it had blocked off with a large piece of metal. It grabbed Nat’s camera while she helped the crew move it, filming their reactions as they entered the room before discarding it once the group began to leave. Only when the group encountered the security guard, who was patrolling the entrance to the tunnel, did the Stalker finally make its presence known, attacking the security guard when he was ahead of the group before dragging him away with lightning quick speed. As the rest of the crew fled in terror it ripped out the security guard’s eyes while he was still alive, throwing the severely wounded man into the lake. Unbeknown to it, Natasha and her crew had arrived at the edge of the lake, discovering its most recent victim. The Stalker then emerged from the shadows behind the security guard and proceeded to brutally murder him by slowly twisting his head completely around until it broke. As it was leaving with the security guard’s body, Natasha let out a scream, notifying it of the crew’s presence. Realizing that they were there, the Stalker slowly emerged from the lake as the crew fled in terror and chased after them. As the group attempted to escape through a small passageway, it managed to grab Peter and attempted to drag him away but retreated when Steve shined his flashlight at it, making the group realize its vulnerability to light. Determined yet wary of the lights, it continued its pursuit of the group, attempting to abduct Steve but was again forced to retreat when confronted with the lights. After this failed second attempt, the Stalker chose to silently pursue the group from the shadows, waiting for the right moment to strike. That opportunity came when the battery for the flashlight died out, temporarily leaving the group in utter darkness as they frantically tried to replace the flashlight's batteries. Just as they managed to restore power, the Stalker began its assault on the group. It charged out of the shadows, violently knocking them all to the ground and breaking the camera lens before it gave chase to Natasha who had fled in terror. Following her to its lair, (which was littered with bottles and jars containing the eyes and possible organs of its previous victims) The Stalker began searching the surrounding area for her as the terrified woman hid nearby. It was only when Natasha accidentally knocked into several of the bottles that were strewn about the lair, that The Stalker noticed her. Attacking the defenseless woman, The Stalker quickly managed to subdue her, rendering her unconscious before proceeding to drag her deeper into the tunnels. As it neared the edge of the underground lake, it began uttering strange guttural sounds resembling chants in an unidentified language. As Natasha regained consciousness, it tossed threw her into the lake, jumping in after her. The young woman's cries and gasping for breath only seemed to excite it as The Stalker slowly began drowning her. However, before it could finish, it was stopped by Steve and Peter who had followed Natasha's screams back to the lake. Again confronted with the bright lights, it was forced to abandon its would be victim as she fled with Steve while Peter stayed behind to hold it at bay. Soon after Natasha and Steve left, the enraged creature viciously attacked Peter, severely wounding him before letting him escape. Peter would die from his injuries soon after being rescued by Natasha and Peter. The fate of the Stalker remains unknown. It is likely that its existence was covered up by the government to avoid a panic and that the documentary itself was made to shed light on this issue. Another theory is that Peter wounded it enough to kill it, however, this is unlikely. Description The Stalker is barely seen on camera when it does appear it is usually very brief with several occasions it only being seen as an incredibly fast blur of movement. When captured on camera, The Stalker appears to be tall and emaciated, standing approximately 7–9 feet in height. It is relatively humanoid in shape and appearance, with long gangly arms and legs, and human-like hands. Its head is humanoid in shape with its flesh seemingly pulled tightly against the bone. It's head also has small patches of long stringy dark hair and large black eyes that appear to shine when seen in the night vision camera. It also appears to be covered in tattered remnants of clothing, wearing a dark coat and pants. Personality During the course of the film, the Stalker is shown to be cunning, dangerous, emotionless, temperamental, and intelligent. It appears to have human-level intelligence as shown during one point when it demonstrated the ability to use a video camera to record the crew as they were searching in one room. The Stalker is incredibly manipulative and treacherous, as it only started attacking the group once they were separated and attempted to separate the group once it made its presence known. It is also very sadistic and aggressive, preferring to psychologically torture and frighten its victims before attacking them. It also seems to take pleasure in tormenting and inflicting pain on others, mutilating its victims while they are still alive before killing them a slow agonizing manner. When it attacked the security guard, the Stalker kept the man alive, his eyes and possibly his tongue before it brutally murdered him by slowly breaking his neck. It seems to collect parts of its victims such as eyes, organs, and pieces of flesh which it stores in various places throughout the abandoned tunnels. It communicates with grunts and growls. When it tried to drown Natasha, it was heard mumbling in what sounded like an incomprehensible language. Powers and Abilities *'Superhuman Speed and Stamina': The Stalker is able to move at superhuman speeds, easily able to outrun the average human with ease. Its movements are so fast that it was able to abduct an average size man in a matter of seconds. *'Superhuman Strength': The Stalker is superhumanly strong, able to carry an average sized human with little effort. It was able to remove hundreds of pounds of equipment in a matter of several minutes and was able to knock down three people in one hit. *'Adapted Night Vision': The Stalker is well adapted to its environment, being able to see in complete darkness. However, due to this, it is sensitive to bright lights and will flee when confronted with them. *'Expanded Lungs': The Stalker appears to have an abnormally large set of lungs which it uses to hold its breath for extended amounts of time while it's underwater. Gallery Images Behind the Scenes ZJX4ir-FDG4.jpg|Behind the Scenes, "Lake Shoot" BSYAGfdlRDE.jpg|Goran D. Kleut's hand in Behind the Scenes photo ''The Tunnel'' (2011) Stalker1stshot.jpg|The Stalker as it places down Natasha's camera 02 - the tunnel.gif|It emerges from the lake StalkerAttack.gif|The Stalker attacks Natasha The Stalker.jpg|The Stalker attempting to drown Natasha Videos The Tunnel (2011) - All Sightings Trivia *The Stalker's name is never mentioned in the film and is only credited as "Stalker" in the end credits. *In an interview, director Carlo Ledesma stated that The Stalker was partially inspired by his love of cryptozoology (the study of "mysterious animals"). *Actor *Goran D. Kleut, who portrays The Stalker in the film, would later go on to play Anubis from Gods of Egypt and one of the Neomorphs (A predecessor to the iconic Xenomorph) in Alien: Covenant. Category:Monsters Category:Movie Villains Category:Horror Villains Category:Live Action Villains Category:Mute Category:Mutilators Category:Humanoid Category:Amoral Category:Genderless Category:Stalkers Category:Sadists Category:Murderer Category:Enigmatic Category:Mongers Category:Rogues Category:Ferals Category:Opportunists Category:The Heavy Category:Outcast Category:Nameless Category:Guardians